[log] Kenya & Yukari

[naniwaspeed]

Who: Oshitari Kenya & Shiraishi Yukari
What: See tl;dr below~
When: June 12th, after this post
Where: In Yukari's room at Basil
Rating: D for dumb :| PG for possibly suggestive discussions

It was muggy in Yukari’s dorm room.

One of the worst things about the Japanese summer (once the rain finally subsided, which it always did), was the high humidity and the lack of A/C all colliding into one horrible, sticky mess. The rain only made it worse, dropping pollen from the trees and aggravating everyone’s allergies. It wasn’t terribly hot, in fact the weather was quite temperate today, but Yukari was just not very good with sticky heat, even as an Osaka girl. She sat in her computer chair in a camisole and running shorts, all she could stand to wear, leaning in to her little USB powered fan and watching sweat drip off her glass of ice water. Kenya coming over would distract her from the heat.

Since she had a night when her roommate was out, she thought maybe… well, maybe not when it was so muggy. But maybe.

Kenya had been studying in a coffee shop near campus, curled up in one of the comfy chairs in the corner with an iced latte and his textbooks. He had to remind himself time and time again that the more than a quarter of his life spent in school was going to be worth it in the end, but sometimes he wanted to just chuck his pre-med textbooks at the wall and say fuck it. That is, when he was having a particularly bad day. Most days, he loved going to school, and loved learning, and genuinely enjoyed the fact that it was going to be a journey.

Today was one of those days where he was not quite feeling it, however, so when a series of text messages between Yuushi discussing Kenya’s desire to adopt a bearded dragon with Yukari left him wanting to throw his iPhone at the wall instead. It was a nice change of pace than with the textbooks, but he still hated when he left interactions with his cousin feeling frustrated and annoyed - especially when it was regarding something that was really important to him. There was little that Kenya loved more than his iguana.

And so, Yukari’s invitation to go to her place because her roommate was out for the night was the perfect excuse to let out some of the frustration. Yukari would make him feel better - she was always apt to bitch about family members when they annoyed her. Well, and with her roommate being gone for the night and them not truly having many opportunities to be together alone… Kenya wasn’t going to let that go to waste. (Because he wanted to see her most of all, of course. Not anything else. Truly.)

It was with jitters of both annoyance with his cousin and anticipation to see his adorable girlfriend that he rapped lightly on her door. He made sure that he brought a coffee per her request and had a bright smile on his face for when she would open it.

Yukari lifted herself out of her chair, wrinkling her nose when bare skin stuck to the seat of the chair, and went over to the door. She had a spare thought that perhaps she ought to do something about her hair which she had carelessly thrown up in its usual loose pigtails, but she already looked like a sweaty mess, might as well rock the whole look. She opened the door, greeted by the welcome sight of coffee and Kenya.

She already knew that Yuushi had said no, but based on the way Kenya’s eyes were dark despite his smile, she wondered if maybe they had argued over it. “...So… is it about Yuushi-san?”

Kenya laughed a bit sheepishly, leaning his head to rest his ear on his shoulder. “Am I so easy to read?” The clear, obvious answer to his question was, yes, he was not the master of inconspicuity, but there were times when he wished he was a little more capable of it. “He’s just being a dick.”

Yukari held the door open for him. “Well, thanks for bringing the coffee and come on in so you can tell me all about it.” She rested her weight into the door as she held it for him. Usually Kenya and Yuushi got along famously, so something serious must have happened for Kenya to be so downtrodden…

He thanked her as he stepped past, moving over to her desk to set down the coffee. “You’re welcome,” he said as he turned to give her a smile. “And… hi.”

“...Hi.” Yukari smiled at him, closing the door and leaning her weight against it. She crossed one ankle over the other.

It was a little silly considering that they had been dating for nearly six months, but when Kenya looked at Yukari when she was giving him that warm smile, free of any usual teasing expression she usually wore and just… genuine, it made his knees go a bit weak. It was as though time slowed down to a still as he looked back at her, his smile growing a bit softer. “...Never mind Yuushi for a sec.” For someone who was the self-proclaimed Naniwa’s Speed Star, it certainly seemed to feel like he was taking his sweet ass time crossing the room to touch a gentle kiss to her cheek.

Yukari closed her eyes and tilted her head with the kiss, feeling a bit of heat rising to her cheeks. It hadn’t gotten old, yet. She wasn’t sure it was ever going to get old with Kenya. She slowly opened her eyes and looked at him up close. “My roommate should leave more often,” she joked, wrapping her fingers up in the hem of his shirt.

Kenya laughed, it coming out a bit more breathy than intended, as he met her eyes. “Yeah… I think she should.” It was only the barest of sensations of his hem pulling away from his abdomen with Yukari’s grasp, but it was enough to shoot a pleasant tingle up his spine. “She gonna be gone all night?”

Those words definitely spiraled Yukari’s mind in a completely different way than Kenya intended. If she was gone all night… was Kenya asking to stay over? And if he was asking to stay over… “Isn’t it a bit fast for that, Speed Star~?” She managed to keep a teasing tone in her voice, but it was just to mask the fact that her stomach was doing acrobatics.

It was one moment too late that Kenya realized what his words must have implied, though he wasn’t about to take them back lest he get himself into any more trouble. He laughed again, this time more out of nervousness, and he touched a couple of fingers to the messy curls in her hair. “I mean… it kinda is my thing.”

Yukari bit her lower lip, amusement sparkling in her eyes. “Is it…?” She tugged on the hem of his shirt and went on her toes to kiss his cheek, lingering close after she did.

Naturally, Kenya leaned into the kiss. “Yeah…”

Flustered, Yukari settled back to her feet and let go of Kenya’s shirt. “But… you were telling me about Yuushi being an asshat?” She habitually reached up to tuck some of her flyaway hair behind her ear.

Kenya could feel heat pricking at the back of his neck and the tips of his ears, but he tried his best to brush it off as Yukari moved away. Yuushi - right. “Oh right - yeah.” Kenya hesitated a moment before stepping around Yukari to sit down at her desk, and grabbed her coffee to hold it out to her. “We were texting.”

Yukari took the coffee and held it between her hands absently. “Yeah? And?”

In truth, the conversation was going back and forth between what was clearly meant to be jovial, playful prodding at one another because they were all about that friendly banter, and comments that genuinely bothered Kenya. When Yukari and him had been talking about potentially adopting a bearded dragon together, he didn’t want to just move forward without asking for his cousin’s input. It wasn’t that he was looking for permission, per se, the house was plenty large enough for Yuushi to never have to interact with it if he didn’t want to, but he wanted Yuushi’s support.

Speedy was a commitment and Yuushi had to become accustomed to living with an iguana just as much as Kenya had to become accustomed to living with his cousin in Tokyo. An iguana was far different from a bearded dragon, though - Speedy required copious amounts of space to freely roam, and did just that around the house as though she was a dog, whereas the bearded dragon would be kept in a large enclosure unless he was around and interacting with it. He hadn’t been able to truly drag a response out of Yuushi, though he went between just wanting to move forward and Yuushi be damned, or just… finding an alternate option that would suit the both of them best.

Kenya sighed, a bit of the frustration leaking out once more. “I dunno. He was just being a dick about it. Like… some of it was fine? And it was jokingly and everything was good? But then he made some comments that I’m pretty sure were still meant to be a joke, but I didn’t take them that way, and… yeah.”

Kenya was a very sensitive person, but Yuushi was usually good about being mindful about it. It made Yukari wonder what was different about this particular situation. It could just be that Kenya came across as too enthusiastic (he did everything at 110%), but even then Yuushi had to know he wasn’t going to make a flash decision that would negatively impact him.... “It might not have anything to do with you. Who knows what is going on in his head.”

“Yeah, I know,” Kenya sighed again, leaning his elbow on the desk so that he could brush his fingers up into his hair. It was never Yuushi’s intention to outright upset Kenya - and Kenya was certain that this particular time was no different. Just… “It probably wasn’t something we should have talked about over text… and I was likely just playing into it too much like I usually do, y’know?”

“Probably not,” Yukari agreed, taking a sip of her coffee. She had been excited about the prospect of adopting a beardie with Kenya, but she also wanted to make sure that Yuushi was bought-in on the idea since he would be the one who would have to live with the new addition to the family. “But… you know, even if it isn’t now, maybe eventually. You won’t be living with Yuushi-san forever.”

The arrangement had worked out nicely for Kenya. Since his aunt and uncle had moved back to Osaka, it wasn’t as though Yuushi needed their entire home all to himself, and it had taken a load of stress of Kenya’s shoulders to not have to worry about finding a place to live once he had moved to Tokyo. But when he had approached Yuushi about adopting the beardie and he made a comment that made Kenya wonder if maybe the solution was to look for alternative living arrangements…

It had been a comment said out of frustration and there was no real intent behind it, but even if it was something that was true of now, there was going to come a time when they wouldn’t be leaving together and then there would be nothing stopping Kenya from adopting all the reptiles he wanted. It wasn’t as though Yukari was against it.

...Not that he was specifically thinking about living with Yukari, but if things continued to go well the way they had been…

Kenya could feel a flush rise on his cheeks once more and he shook his head as though he could physically get rid of the thought. “Right! No, I won’t be.”

Though, on the other hand, Yukari thought privately, he was going to be in medical school for a long damn time. It was something like nine total years of school before he would be able to be a practicing pediatrician. If he was indefinitely welcome in the Oshitari family home, it might make sense to just stay there and Yuushi would be graduating before him…

But all of that didn’t really matter in this moment. If Yuushi was being a jerk about it, they were just going to have to whittle him down until he agreed. “Maybe we shouldn’t talk about Yuushi-san after all,” Yukari suggested. “Make use of the time we have.”

Yukari was right. Kenya hated feeling annoyed with Yuushi, but it wasn’t going to do them any good to bitch about him, either. Regardless of what the final answer ended up being, they would figure it out.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Kenya agreed, rolling his shoulders. “What’s important is that we’re together - right?” He gave her a bright smile, one that he knew made her insides feel all sorts of funny things.

Just as he thought, Yukari couldn’t resist his bright smile. Kenya radiated incredible energy that was full of sunshine and positivity. “So, other than Yuushi-san being a pain, how was your day?” She took another sip of her coffee to mask the blush gracing her cheeks.

“Kinda boring, but good. Got lots of studying done.” Even though Kenya probably should have been taking a break from studying after exams, he just felt better when he didn’t feel like he was potentially going to fall horrendously behind if he didn’t pick up his textbooks for a day. “It definitely made me happy when you texted me, though,” he added, holding his arm out for her to come closer. “How ‘bout you?”

She leaned into his open arm. “Uh… unlike you, crazy person, I'm taking a break from studying.” She shrugged and sipped her coffee. “But it was just a cranky day - better with you here. Much better.”

It was definitely a lot better with them together. It still gave Kenya all sorts of crazy butterflies in his stomach knowing that she was his girlfriend, and he could feel them fluttering around as he curled his arm around her. “Yeah - definitely better.” He fell quiet for a moment, letting nothing but their breathing fill the quietness of the room. There were the distant sounds of others rummaging around in their own apartments, but it was easily to tune them out and focus solely on Yukari.

Using his position to gently run the backs of his fingers over her bicep, Kenya turned his head to look up at her. “Is the crankiness gone now that I’m here, then~?”

Yukari was quiet for a heartbeat, enjoying the soft touch. Kenya’s hands on her, even the most simple caress, made her breath stutter. She didn't bother trying to respond, instead just looking up at him with the words half-formed on her parted lips.

With Yukari’s eyes turned toward him, Kenya felt something akin to a rock drop to the bottom of his stomach. The butterflies were gone, replaced instead by a pleasant sensation that danced its way up his spine. He almost didn’t want to look away - he enjoyed how it was clearly evident on her face that she had left her own train of thought halfway, and it only played further into the warmth he could feel forming on the back of his neck. He slowly moved his hand away from her bicep to instead touch a couple of fingers to her cheek, brushing ever so gently over her smooth skin.

Yukari closed her eyes briefly, collecting her thoughts, then fixed her gaze back on Kenya. If she just fell apart every time he was close or every time he touched her, she was going to be a wreck whenever they were together and she had to get her shit together. “Can’t be too cranky when you’re here,” she agreed quietly.

Now it was Kenya’s turn to not have his shit together because instead of clearly responding to her in words, he instead brushed his fingertips down alongside her jaw for a response instead, hoping that she would be able to somehow determine what it was he was trying to say.

And… what was it that Kenya was trying to say? Was he trying to voice how she made him feel? Was he trying to ask for something wordlessly? And if it was the latter, what was it that specifically he was trying to say?

This is the reason why Hikaru thinks you’re useless at the best of times, Kenya reminded himself inwardly, and it probably showed on his face that he was thinking something dumb because he was dumb like that sometimes. It took him a moment to come back into the present moment, meeting Yukari’s eyes once more, and smiling. A gentle smile, but a smile that he hoped brought her happiness nevertheless. “It’s always better with you,” he said a bit lamely, even though he knew logically he was just repeating himself. Her skin was warm.

“I’m pretty sure you already said that.” Yukari laughed lightly, leaning her face into his touch. “Guess I’m not the only one feeling a bit tongue-tied. Do you think it’s always going to be this bad?” She hoped not. She had seen her parents being useless like this before and she didn’t want it to be a permanent affliction.

Oh god. He hoped it wasn't going to be. At some point Kenya wanted to be able to be physically close to his girlfriend without fearing that he was going to forever be without words. And what happened if there were other… things… that they wanted to do?

That just made it worse. Kenya knew that the heat on the back of his neck was definitely turning red, it was now burning hot instead of just that pleasant warmth that had lingered before, but he tried his best to force those particular thoughts out of his mind. He couldn’t even touch the most innocent places without sending his heart pounding wildly in his chest.

“I sure hope not,” he responded a bit breathily with a laugh, moving his hand away from her cheek to instead weave their fingers together. “It makes me feel a bit useless.”

If Kenya thought he was useless, he certainly wasn’t alone. Being around him was bringing out this side of Yukari that she wouldn't want to show in public lest she have to rebuild her entire reputation from the ground up. But Kenya’s skin turning scarlett was giving away his less innocent thoughts and she couldn’t just let that slide. “Where did your mind go just now?” Yukari asked with a laugh, sitting down on his knee. “You’re all red.”

As he had learned previously in the past and would continue to learn every day that followed, this is what he got for dating a Shiraishi. “Yukari,” Kenya chastised, though it was done so lightly and with a laugh. “Don’t just call me out like that.”

Just… acknowledging it like that brought a blush to Yukari’s face that crept up to her ears. “Don’t just say it like that - what were you thinking?” She pouted at Kenya, giving his shoulder a little half-hearted shove.

Kenya just let himself be shoved, still laughing, but at least it gave him a temporary distraction from the heat radiating off him. It was even enough of a distraction to keep him from honing in too much on the fact that Yukari was sitting on his knee which was pretty close to his lap and other things, and if he continued down that rabbit hole he would certainly become the color of a tomato. And at some point he did want to try to be ~cool~ and ~confident~ instead of blushy like… well, like he was demonstrating now.

Not that he wasn’t in good company. Admittedly, he did quite enjoy when Yukari was flustered on his behalf, too.

“It’s just… y’know.” He smiled a little, loosely wrapping his arm around her waist to keep her from slipping off. For reasons. “Stuff.”

“Stuff,” Yukari parroted. She leaned her weight into his shoulder, now that his arm was supporting her, and tucked her face into his neck. “Stuff you can’t even say, huh?”

The words were on the tip of his tongue - a response that would have been jovial in nature, trying to redirect the focus from the hole he dug himself, but then Yukari’s face was pressed into his skin and he could feel her lips against him, and then the words just fled. “Yeah… stuff.”

Yukari could feel her heartbeat on her tongue, something she didn’t even know was possible until this moment, and she closed her eyes. This was nice - Kenya smelled nice, the way that he was fumbling around for his words was nice, the warmth was nice… She pressed her lips gently under his jaw, meaning to be reassuring but it was hard to feel that way when she was already so riled up. “Stuff,” she agreed.

Kenya’s eyes fluttered closed with the touch of the kiss, humming a little in response since it seemed like words were too difficult in this particular moment. Somehow, though he would have expected the kiss to rile him up, instead it seemed to calm his nerves, and he loosened his hold on her enough to instead run his hand up her spine and gently touch it to the back of her neck. If it was up to Kenya, they would stay like this forever, and he accented that thought with a gentle kiss to her ear - a simple brush of his lips that he hoped spoke volumes for what he felt for her.

The message was clearly conveyed. Yukari tilted her head back, instead finding Kenya’s lips for a brief, soft kiss. Their first kiss had been a bit more disastrous than either of them cared to admit, but they agreed they had plenty more to make up for their first failure. They had lots of kisses to give and plenty of time to figure out how to make one another happy. And maybe Kenya didn’t feel for Yukari what Yukari felt for Kenya, but there was plenty of time for that, too.

The kiss was very much welcome, brief as it may have been. Kenya kept his hand on the back of her neck, but used his other to wrap around her more comfortably, holding her against his chest. He used their closeness to meet her eyes once more, a small smile forming in the absence of her kiss. “I’d… like to do that with you.” He wasn’t sure how one was supposed to express such desires, and so he figured that being honest and open was still going to serve him best. “Not… now, necessarily, but…”

Yukari set down her coffee behind Kenya and lifted her hands to squish in Kenya’s cheeks, forcing his lips into a fish face. “Don’t just say things like that to girls, dumbass.” Even though she said that, she shifted the way she was sitting to straddle his lap so she could face him fully.

Even though the words suggested one thing, the way Yukari shifted on Kenya suggested another, and it took a creative way of twisting his lips in such a way to let out a little breathy chuckle under her hold. On second thought, it probably wasn’t the greatest thing to have ever come out of his mouth, but how else was he supposed to suggest it? “I’m sorry!” He shook his head out of her grasp to give her a sheepish smile, both of his hands slipping down to rest on her thighs… which then aptly reminded him that the running shorts she wore had very thin material and left little to the imagination when it came to the shape of her legs. “I just…”

Yukari rested her hands on his chest, palms flat. “No, I get it.” She curled her fingers in his shirt, tilting her head thoughtfully. She definitely wanted that, too, but maybe a little part of her was shy when it was all still so new and she wasn’t really sure of anything. The touch of Kenya’s hands on her thighs was both comfortable but also new - it felt like something dangerous, but also something familiar. Figuring out where that line was, what the difference was between friendship and romance and sex was what had Yukari’s head spinning almost every time they were together. “I want you, too.”

Although Yukari didn’t have the thin, almost waify build of other women her age, something that Kenya very much enjoyed, she still wasn’t particularly heavy. But without fair warning for her sitting on his lap, he didn’t have the opportunity to get comfortable before hand. In an effort to change that now, he shifted his weight just enough to more evenly adjust how she rested against him - unintentionally, as he did so, his hands slipped further up her thighs, stopping just before his fingertips would meet the hems of her shorts.

It did bring him some relief when she expressed the same desire in return, not just for the fact that Kenya sought reassurance that she was interested in doing those things with him, but also to confirm that what he said wasn’t entirely off base. He didn’t want to make Yukari feel uncomfortable - he hoped that she would stop him if he had - but it was also important to him that she know that because an open line of communication was paramount to a successful relationship. His parents had drilled that one into him from a young age.

“I’m… glad? I guess that’s kinda a weird thing to say, but… it makes me happy.” Kenya smiled warmly at her, becoming a bit more bold to gently flick the thin fabric. Somehow, he felt a bit more in his element. Maybe because it had lost its awkwardness? Or maybe just that he was more comfortable?

The feeling of Kenya’s hands moving further up her thighs, even if unintentionally, gave her flashbacks more to guys trying to get a hand up her skirt than something pleasant. It wasn’t his fault, but it took a moment for her brain to catch up to what was actually happening.

Yukari gave Kenya a pursed lipped smile in return, smacking one of his hands gently. “Don’t be obnoxious,” she said, but she really didn’t mind. The awkwardness had definitely been sucked out of the situation. Even if it was maybe not the best way to speak to a lady, Kenya’s earnest nature had put a pin in the atmosphere.

It was hard - being obnoxious was in Kenya’s nature and Yukari was not exempt from that behavior, but he slipped the hand that had been smacked off her thigh to instead rest on the small of her back. “Sorry, sorry.” He leaned forward to touch a kiss to her cheek to join the apology, jovial as it may have been, and then leaned back to look at her again. Her messy curls had fallen slightly out of their ponytail holders, and small, flyaway hairs escaped and framed her face. Even prior to the start of their romantic relationship, these moments between them had always made his stomach do nervous flips, and now was no different - there was just the promise of something else that it could be lingering in the air between them.

“...Kinda,” Kenya added with a grin, now slipping two fingers under her camisole to rest against her skin. That part of her body was also warm, and Kenya wondered if that’s how everything else felt, too.

“...No you aren’t.” Yukari touched a kiss to his jaw in return, her hands sliding up Kenya’s arms and gracing the hems of his sleeves. Though he was an athlete and played tennis, his focus was far more on aerobic activities, he was never going to have big, buff arms. His height made him nice to snuggle, but if she wanted Chris Hemsworth, she was barking up the wrong tree. But with her fingers playing over his biceps and shoulders she thought she liked him just like this - he was definitely one of the most handsome people she had ever met. Even if he wasn’t, he had the most beautiful heart.

“‘Kay, yeah, maybe you’re right,” he agreed, leaning into the contact to encourage more. “But I’m pretty used to saying sorry for being obnoxious. It’s been trained into me.” Or something like that, anyway - as much as Kenya could be trained to do anything, given his history with those particular someones he tended to be the most obnoxious to, and the things he was able to get away with.

Yukari leaned back a bit, looking at him more seriously. “Kenya, that’s awful. You shouldn’t be trained to apologize for being yourself.” It could be over-exposure to Hikaru, of course, but more than likely it was moving in with killjoy Yuushi who was being a spoilsport, lately. Okay, maybe that wasn’t very fair of Yukari, but when they were younger Kenya spoke about Yuushi like he was Kenya’s greatest champion. Now… well, now that Yukari was starting to know more about him, she didn’t really see it.

It took Kenya a few beats of his heart to realize that Yukari had taken his words at face value, rather than the joke they were meant to be. While his words hadn’t been intended to be social commentary, he did appreciate that Yukari also didn’t let them completely slide, either. There were genuinely times when Kenya did feel like had to apologize for being himself - he considered himself the black sheep of the Oshitari family, he didn’t share all the same qualities as his cousin or younger brother, or basically any other member of the family (never mind the fact that for all as it may have seemed otherwise, Kenya took after his father in so many ways), and then sometimes his choice of good friends also resulted in similar reactions out of Kenya when he was backed into a corner.

Kenya’s eyes darkened as his thoughts spiraled downward, not realizing that he now left Yukari without a response. It wasn’t often when he was with others that those sorts of thoughts would creep up on him, he was usually good about knowing when he needed an escape to be able to process the emotions, but together with those thoughts and the argument with Yuushi from earlier…

Yukari settled her hands on Kenya’s cheeks, again, this time more gently. “Babe, you went somewhere dark.” She rested their foreheads together, closing her eyes. “Remember your breathing exercises.”

The feeling of Yukari’s hands was distant to Kenya at first. He followed her suggestion and took a couple of minutes to breathe deeply, slowly coming back to the present, and starting to feel the very real sensation of her hands on his cheeks. While his anxiety was kept mostly at bay with regular exercise, surrounding himself with those he loved, and other mechanisms he had come to form over the years from dealing with separation anxiety, it always chose the strangest of times to rear its head. Usually when the rest of the day had been good - and really good, even.

Once Kenya found the ability to speak again, he opened his eyes and gave her a small smile. “Thank you.” The urge to apologize again for this was high, as the anxiety told him that he was being a nuisance, but he always tried to twist that around when he could to instead recognize how appreciative he was that he had people like Yukari who helped him stay level. “I’m better.”

“Good, I’m glad.” She stayed there close to him, though. All thoughts of the physical forgotten - she wanted to just know that he was happy and felt safe and loved. She had never experienced anxiety, only knew what Kenya had told her about it and a bit of her own research to try to better understand him. From everything she had read, it sounded like anxiety, much like how depression was often mistaken for someone just “being sad,” was often confused for someone just “feeling stressed.” And anxiety attacks were often confused with panic attacks which were vastly different things with vastly different results.

Yukari wanted Kenya to never feel that way again - but since that wasn’t possible, she wanted to support him every step of the way. “I’m here for you.”

“I really appreciate it.” And truly, it meant to Kenya more than any words could possibly say. He had always imagined that any romantic partner of his would be understanding and would want to support him no matter what, but he also hadn’t expected the lengths that Yukari had gone to make sure that she did just that. “It means the world to me.”

“You mean the world to me,” Yukari said almost compulsively, feeling a little silly immediately after saying it. But, he did - Kenya meant everything to her. Maybe that was silly to say six months into a relationship, and maybe it was silly to say of the first person she had really fallen in love with, but she had liked him for basically a decade, so…

And with that, it seemed like the world had come to a standstill. Kenya’s expression softened, the last of the anxiety melting away as he gave her an almost shy smile. His heart began to wildly pound against his chest once more and he felt his palms go a bit clammy. But even as these physical manifestations of how he felt came to be, he didn’t hesitate for even a second before saying in return, “You mean the world to me too, Yukari.”

That sent Yukari’s heart aflutter and she couldn’t help the soft smile the graced her lips. For all his obnoxious qualities, this was the man she chose and this was the reason she chose him. “I love you, Kenya,” she said, not quite able to meet his eyes when she said it.

It was such a simple phrase that meant so many things to different people and held so much weight when spoken in certain contexts. Love manifested in so many ways, romantic or platonic or otherwise, but yet there was still something magical about that one particular phrase that while Kenya had spoken it many times before in his life - he was often chastised as a child for how he expressed his love for those important to him - it was the first someone had said it to him with that romantic tone.

It wasn’t even so much that Kenya’s stomach continued to do those squiggly things, but more that he felt he was going to burst at the seams with unfiltered happiness even as Yukari couldn’t meet his eyes.

“...You do?” There was a tone almost of awestruck amazement as he tried to catch her gaze. In the present moment, there with Yukari, and the fact that the world had already come to a standstill with her other proclamation, Kenya thought that he was definitely the luckiest man alive to have such a beautiful woman by his side. And, well…

“Yeah, I do.” It took all of her willpower to do it, but the tone of Kenya’s voice goaded Yukari on to raise her eyes to look at him. She wasn’t prepared for what she saw in his face - the joy that seemed to be filling him up and threatening to burst out of him. There was nothing to fear about saying it - even if he didn’t say the same thing in return, it was how she felt and she wanted to share everything with him. The anxious feelings fled her, replaced with a sense of peace. “I love you, Kenya,” she repeated, this time confidently meeting his eyes.

“I love you, too.” Kenya wasn’t entirely prepared for the words that came tumbling out of his mouth, but as soon as they did and lingered between them, he didn’t feel any sense of nervousness or like he was saying it just to say something in return. Instead, he felt peace - as well as comfort knowing that the feelings were mutual. The relationship itself had only been official for six months and seeing Yukari in a more romantic light was more recent than perhaps the time she had spent liking him, but… she made him feel something that he had never experienced before, never truly, and that only perpetuated the happiness that sent warm, happy tingles all over his body.

“Eh?” Yukari blinked, not expecting that response. She felt tears come to her eyes and she covered her mouth reflexively. She never thought he would say the same thing in return… and she didn’t expect the way it made her feel, either. It was a sense of relief mixing in with a rush of exhilaration. She smiled brightly behind her hands, closing her eyes against the tears. “Finally,” she said, though that wasn’t what she really meant to say.

Tears were not what Kenya expected from Yukari at all, but to make matters worse, Kenya was a sympathy cryer, and he could feel the familiar sting of tears at the corners of his eyes. He laughed a little, this time being the one to touch his hands to Yukari’s cheeks, careful to not dislodge her hands just in case she wanted them to be covered. “‘Finally?’” he parroted with a small, weak laugh, brushing the pads of his thumbs over the apples of her cheeks.

She lowered her hands with a nervous laugh even as the tears fell, “I mean, that makes me happy.” Sometimes Yukari thought she was the worst at being a proper woman.

Kenya looked at her a bit bewildered, though the smile remained painted on his face. It also made him happy; now he was absolutely certain that he was the luckiest man alive. “I’m really happy, too,” he said almost reassuringly, as he still wasn’t quite sure what to make of her initial response, but didn’t want to leave it unaddressed.

Yukari gathered her composure and leaned into Kenya. “I wouldn’t mind if you decided you liked to say it more often, either…” she joked, looking up at him from her vantage point with her cheek leaned on his shoulder.

“Yukari-chaaaan,” her roommate’s voice called out seconds before the door opened. Caught without anywhere to escape, Yukari froze, not really sure what else to do - there was not going to be any hiding this one. “You would not believe what an ass that guy was - it was a total bust. So~ I got us both ice cream and we can have a… boys suck… um.” She paused. “Am I… interrupting something?”

Yukari looked at Kenya for a moment before quietly managing. “No… I mean, if you want…”

“No, no! I know when to butt out!” The sound of the door clicking shut behind her echoed in Yukari’s ears like the sound of the clock ticking away loudly on the wall. She had only just noticed the sound, but now she could not help but fixate on it.

A giggle bubbled out of her. “Oh my god.”

Yukari’s roommate had left just as quickly as she came, and for as much as Kenya boasted about being the fastest man in all of Naniwa (he probably should upgrade that to Tokyo, if he wished to remain competitive), it didn’t help him in the way that he froze by the first sound of the other woman before he was able to relax once more.

His laughter matched Yukari’s giggle and he leaned back in the chair. “It figures,” he said, slipping his hand out from under her shirt to instead rub her back. “At least it wasn’t Hikaru again?”

“A good thing, too,” Yukari agreed. “Who knows what French words you’d have to pronounce.”

“Oh my god.” Now it was Kenya’s turn to make similar proclamations and he laughed again. “Let’s not even talk about that.”

tl;dr
☆ Yukari invites Kenya over because she had a crappy day; Kenya agrees because he also had a crappy day and argued with Yuushi over adopting a new family member
☆ Things get a little heated and then they get all cute and awkward again
☆ They talk about doing ~things~ and ~stuff~ with each other and get all embarrassed and awkward
☆ Kenya has a bit of an anxiety attack and Yukari is perfect and helps him
☆ They confess to each other and are really surprised by the other :|
☆ They get walked in on by Yukari's roommate and then get all embarrassed again
☆ The last comment re: Hikaru will make more sense once we've finished the log with Sara ♥

Also! A note for anyone who lives in or would have possibly been at Basil~ Feel free to have your characters either a) find Yukari's roommate sitting in the common area eating two tubs of ice cream by herself because guys suck, or b) witness Kenya leaving late at night and kinda sneaking out so as to not be ~seen~ by anybody (oh, the best laid plans of mice and men) if you wanna have fodder for posting/commenting. O:)